


Arkham

by Marksfabulousbutt



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Arkham (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Out of Character, Sad, Secret Identity, Secrets, Spinoff, spinoff of a good book
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 15:27:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17266718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marksfabulousbutt/pseuds/Marksfabulousbutt
Summary: Edward Nashton has a rather small secret. He doesn't like sharing it with the world however.





	Arkham

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for the lovely Queen_in_the_North. They wrote a story titled as A Case Study in Step Parenting. This is like an alternative universe to that alternative universe, so it's kinda ooc? I have no clue, if you (Queen_in_the_North) happen to read this thanks, it means a lot to me and I hope you enjoy!
> 
> This is also vaguely based off of Edward's audio log in Batman: Arkham Asylum (the game), the first one you get when you pick one up. he tells a riddle with the answer of dismembering a baby.
> 
> Also this isn't cannon of their world and just a spinoff for fun. Do not take this as cannon!!! Please!!
> 
> This is not the best I've written but I hope that you all enjoy :')
> 
> -
> 
> Can be read as a stand alone, but if you want the full story I suggest you go here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14972258/chapters/34697780

He wouldn't have wanted his daughter to have known this, but, he was in an asylum once. In Arkham asylum. Too many thoughts that was and still is inhumane. However he was declared sane, signing the form, and then hid it away. Ellen's mother knew of it. Some of the reasons that Ellen's mother hadn't really wanted to get married. Perhaps it was better this way. He never told Jonathan either, just his personal secret with his personal background of his father.

He'll have a nervous breakdown every once in a while, scared of something... He'd awake in cold sweat, almost to tears and huddling himself in a tiny ball to think it over. Jonathan never woke in these times. And he was thankful. Edward was comfortable around Diane and Jonathan, especially his daughter. They don't bring back dark memories. They encourage new ones, and more brighter ones.

There was time when he didn't care for human beings, lives and what not.  Told riddles of death and morbid creations. He remembers the one he told to a doctor one day. Of cutting off a baby's limbs. He said it was easy for him to joke about it. It wasn't his child. But as he had Ellen, he reflected on it alot, and often considered tracking down the doctor to tell her he was sorry.

He hadn't worried about Jonathan or Ellen finding out about his path, until he had been cleaning out some old junk. He hadn't expected Jonathan to be home so early in the day. "Eddie?" He jumped, looking at the Arkham paper on the table, and nearly went for it but he knew Jonathan already saw. He had to pause, reading the certificate almost twice. "You...You were in Arkham?" Edward doesn't say anything, only closing his eyes before he could start to cry. "Y-yeah." It's weak and fragile, but it cuts like a knife in the room.

Edward stood up from his sorting picking up the piece of parchment, and really wanting it to be burnt in his hands right now. "It was a long time ago." He hadn't noticed he was crying until it dripped onto the paper and he wiped it away, and went over his face with his hand. "It's nothing, don't tell Ellen." Edward could hardly breathe as he gripped the paper, crumbling the edge. Jonathan set his coat down onto the table, walking around to pull Edward into a hug, holding him tight. Edward barely hugged back, still trapped in his own world.

"I won't pry. You don't have to tell me anything. But I'must here for you." Edward let a sob rack him, it was a cheesy line but he knew it was true. But, he doesn't want to be held, he doesn't want to be touched and he doesn't want comfort, he's been doing this for years now, fighting it alone, but he doesn't struggle out of the grip. "J-jonathan, let me go," He whispered, and Jonathan pulled away as Edward stumbled, walking into the wall behind him, as he tried to calm himself. "Please, l-leave me alone"

Edward slid down the wall, curling in on himself, relying on himself just a bit more, just a bit longer. They were all coming back, flooding in his head, his father, his thoughts, they were breaking dams, and he just wasn't ready. Jonathan left a few minutes later having only been getting lunch, Edward repacked everything, placing the crumpled paper at the bottom before getting up and putting it back in the closet before going back to sit at the wall.

He stayed like that, his head filled with sick desires and thoughts, and his father, he got lost in time. He barely moved, and barely felt, trapped in his world. He forgot to pick up Ellen. And Jonathan got her after finishing his afternoon class. Ellen opened the door finding her father curled against the wall, perhaps asleep and she looked at Jonathan for help. "Jon...?" She whispered, but he was as lost as she was.

"Just let him be child." He whispered back. Jonathan had to leave for his last class and Ellen disappeared down the hallway. Edward was startled from his state, clumsily getting up, hands and body shaking. He had to get out. He had to leave. Ellen would do just fine by herself, he knew she would she's been left alone many times before.

Edward had to get out before he did something he regretted however. He was apart of the Police force, and he was reformed. He was cured. Or so he believed.

He disappeared for a while. He didn't respond to messages. He was gone, but the thing that worried Jonathan was that there was a murder. Down in the narrows. They caught a suspect, and they were shipped to Arkham.

The suspect turned themselves in and asked to have their identity confidential. Ellen wasn't fairing any better than she did when her mother died, now her father gone, she started to isolate herself, and Jonathan barely saw her. She came out for food and water and she'd go back to her room, tired and alone.

Jonathan had no clue what to do. He wasn't her mother or father. He didn't know how to take care of a child, outside of helping Edward.

-

Edward was in Arkham again. He was better now but he didn't want to face his family. He didn't want to face Ellen. He shook in fear at the thought of showing up with another piece of paper. Stating he was sane. He only hoped for the warden to not beat him to death.

Edward had therapy with his old doctor. He was really surprised she still worked here. "Dr. Young, your patient is here." "Oh! Bring him in!" The door opened, and she immediately recognized her old patient. "You can leave now, thank you." The gaurd followed instructions and stood outside the closed door.

"Edward Nashton..." "Dr. Young." He replied kindly. "You've changed since the last time I saw you." Dr. Young remarked."As have you." She sat in a awed silence. She had rather not speak to him, but he looked better than he had when he first came to the asylum. "How... Why did you end up back here?" "I killed someone...again. I-I... I was scared." "Of what?"

"I have a husband, a daughter now... I'm aware you might remember Ellen..."  She nods, "I do in fact remember her. How old is she now? I recall her being at least 1." "15 nearly 16." Young sighed. "Forever ago." "Now let's talk about what recently happened."

Edward swallowed, she eased his nerves. He really missed her. "I'm sorry, lets start with that. But I still kept the certificate I signed. I'd said I'd burn it but I didn't. I was cleaning out some old stuff from my closet, and I left the parchment on the table. I was alone." Edward had to stop himself, had to breathe. "My husband came home, and saw it. I didn't want him or Ellen to know that I had been here. Here for the mentally ill." "There's nothing wrong with being mentally ill, Edward." "I'm aware."

A slience followed. She understood he was still rather shaken. Edward's voice cuts through the thick silence. "I was gone. I was gone to before I was declared sane, the walls broke, and I just, I stayed in the dining room, against the wall all day before going to the narrows and killing some person. I stayed afterwards while the police came." Dr. Young sits in thoughts, looking down at her desk.

"Well, I welcome you back Edward. We'll see in a few months if you're fairing any better. He nods. "I hope too."


End file.
